Today's Creation Moment

Mar

03

Are We as Good as It Gets?

Proverbs 16:18

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Are we, as human beings, as good as it gets? According to several influential evolutionary scientists, human beings are as good as it gets, and evolution has stopped for us. Some dispute this, saying...

History

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

When one hears the term "pyramid builders," one usually thinks of the Egyptians, Incas or the Aztecs, whose famous pyramids were built for religious purposes. You may not know that the Greeks also built pyramids. But as we might expect of the Greeks, their pyramids served a practical, everyday purpose.

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years…"

Did you know that there was no October 5, 1582? There wasn't even an October 6 that year. Why? The story begins with the Earth's orbit. A year is exactly 365 days, 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds longer. This means that every year when the day of your birth arrives, the Earth is not exactly where it was in its orbit on the day you were born. Though the eleven-minute error is small, it does add up over hundreds of years.

"The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."

Historians have dismissed many allegedly ancient maps as modern forgeries because the maps show features that the ancients supposedly knew nothing about. Among the more credible ancient maps are 20 variations of ancient Chinese maps that may be as much as 4,000 years old. Some of these maps are held in museums around the world. What's more, the maps accurately record features all over the world!

"Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits…"

Why do 60 seconds make a minute? Why does an hour have 60 minutes? After all, there are no natural reasons for this. A year is a natural time measurement, based on the sun's position in the sky. Well, believe it or not, there may be connection between the length of an hour and the golden statue built by King Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel and his friends refused to worship.

"And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire."

The Bible tells us that in conquering Canaan, Joshua destroyed the city of Hazor, which was the chief city in the area. Bible critics are usually skeptical of the claims made by the Bible, especially when it comes to Israel's conquest of Canaan. Excavations at Hazor began in 1955 and have gone on sporadically ever since. Archaeologists wanted to know when Hazor was destroyed and who it was that destroyed it. Doubting that Israel could have caused the destruction, some suggested Hazor was destroyed by the Philistines, by another Canaanite city, or the Egyptians.

"And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ."

If you've ever seen any photographs of Mayan pyramids, you will probably remember that they typically have a large set of stairs going to the top. Now an acoustics expert offers some interesting evidence that these steps may in fact be the world's oldest recording.

"And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office."

According to the biblical chronology, God ordered Aaron to be consecrated as the first priest of Israel about 3,400 years ago. From Aaron, priesthood was passed down from father to son until the official priesthood ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. After that, fathers would tell their children that they were descended from the priestly class. Though only these oral histories exist today, modern Judaism still honors Aaron's descendants. Today they are called cohanim, which is the plural of cohen, meaning "priest" in Hebrew.

"Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered."

If there was a great worldwide Flood, as described in Genesis, such a catastrophe certainly should have left obvious evidence of itself all over the world. Scientists who believe in creation say that we are surrounded by these evidences. Many of them also believe that some of the features associated with glaciers can be better explained by a catastrophic flood.

"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:"

Tsi-zun-hau-kau was a nineteenth-century Winnebago chief. A portrait painted over a hundred years ago shows him posing proudly with a stick in his hand. That stick is now at Michigan's Cranbrook Institute of Science where its carved markings have been under study.

"And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

In our previous program we heard how two creationists had scaled Mount Ararat and had filmed an object projecting from the ice near the summit. That object looked very much like Noah's Ark. The year was 1989 and other creationists at the time could have reported with great fanfare that Noah's Ark had indeed been discovered.

"And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."

As they rose toward the 15,000-foot plateau on the west side of Mount Ararat, they spotted a familiar looking dark form. It looked almost like the drawing of Noah's Ark developed from the descriptions provided by others who had seen what they thought was the Ark in this area. The year was 1989.

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

It is interesting to look at scientific predictions made, say, a generation ago. Here is one that appeared in the December 1977 issue of Science Digest predicting our future climate. This article pointed out that the world's climate is already cooler than at many points in recorded history. It said that at one time Greenland was actually green and England was a major producer of wine.

"Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."

Has your great great-grandfather been born yet? If he hasn't, he's not your great great-grandfather! This might seem like a silly question. But when it comes to the claimed evolutionary fossil evidence for man's evolution, our claimed great great-grandfather has turned up in the wrong period of history.

"…will He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?"

What languages did Jesus speak during His ministry on Earth? Of course He spoke Aramaic, since that was the common language of the people He taught. When He read from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth, He would have read it in Hebrew. But did Jesus also speak Greek?

"And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house."

Scripture tells us that Solomon's temple was overlaid with gold inside – the walls, the ceiling and even the floor! Solomon even decorated the Temple with gold, including over two U.S. tons of golden shields. Given the dimensions of the rooms, this would take a huge amount of gold.

"And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah."

There are two major schools of thought among biblical archaeologists. Many archaeologists go about their work with the goal of providing background to biblical accounts with their finds. But another school, called "minimalists", refuse to accept anything the Bible says unless they find solid evidence for it.

“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Did you know that the Bible never tries to convince the reader that there is a God? As surprising as that sounds, it’s absolutely true. The Bible’s very first words begin by identifying God – but nowhere does the Bible try to prove there is a God.

“And he [Josiah] defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.”

Those who take the Bible seriously will recall the numerous passages where God condemns the pagan custom of sacrificing the first-born child to the god Moloch. These children were just weeks or months old and burned alive as an atonement sacrifice; that is, offering one life on behalf of another. The Canaanites slaughtered thousands of children in this way when their nation was threatened. God ordered the complete destruction of the Canaanites.

“And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they hope that they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.”

History flows like a river, unstoppable by any man, from the creation to the final judgment.